


The hardest part of senior year

by creativetitlesarehard



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bisexual Kara Danvers, Bisexual Samantha "Sam" Arias, F/F, Lesbian Lena Luthor, POV Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias & Lena Luthor Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-24 01:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21330064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creativetitlesarehard/pseuds/creativetitlesarehard
Summary: Lena's stared at but never stares. She's gossiped about but never gossips. She's loved but never loves. Well, that last part isn't quite true. See, Lena gets asked out a lot but she never says yes. That's because she's desperately -- and I mean desperately -- in love with Kara Danvers.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 37
Kudos: 199





	1. Chapter 1

Mr. Jones told his third period class that the AP Physics test would be the hardest part of senior year. No offense to Jones, but he had no idea what he was talking about. 

Lena Luthor was the frontrunner for valedictorian and one test wasn't enough to scare her. So what if there were rumors that half the students who took last year's test gave up halfway through and ended up answering the last question by doodling pictures of themselves being crushed by books. Lena wasn't worried. She's maintained a solid 4.0 GPA (technically higher with her AP classes) while also serving as president of the student body, National Honors Society and Future Business Leaders of Midvale High. A couple of physics questions would be easy. 

Lena isn't just smart. She's Lena. She's stared at but never stares. She's gossiped about but never gossips. She's loved but never loves. 

  
Well, that last part isn't quite true. See, Lena has been asked out a lot. And I mean, a lot.

First, there was James Olsen, the young basketball star who tripped over his feet while asking Lena out freshman year. She politely said no and asked if he needed help to get up off the ground. His resulting sprained ankle forced him to sit out of the championship game that upcoming Friday. Then there was Maxwell Lord. His family owned a yacht the size of a house. At least, they did until he demanded his mom sell the boat sophomore year after Lena turned down his offer to spend a weekend with him out at sea. The whole school was there junior year when Jack Spheer asked Lena to prom, or more like shouted at her from across the cafeteria. She turned him down with one quirk of an eyebrow. The latest rumor was that Querl Dox offered to delay his early admittance into MIT if Lena would go with him to a chess tournament. She said no by forcing his king into checkmate.

It's not that Lena had anything against the guys. Well, OK, she did have something against Maxwell. It was just that Lena was desperately — and I mean _desperately_ — in love with Kara Danvers.

Kara is the girl with blonde hair that shines regardless of the weather. She always has an answer ready for a teacher and if she doesn't, she'll counter with a better question than the one the teacher asked in the first place. She ran track up until her sophomore year but stopped after her sister graduated. Rumor has it that Coach Kent is still trying to coax her back onto the team, claiming that his niece is the school's best shot to winning regionals. She's taken nearly all of the art electives offered and is currently president of Midvale High's Young Creatives club. She's on the yearbook staff and occasionally writes articles for the school's monthly magazine. And she has a smile that could warm up even the coldest of hallways. 

The only problem, and honestly it's just a slight one, is that Lena and Kara never talk. 

Kara's friends sit by the front of the cafeteria during lunch while Lena's friends hang out by the water fountain. Kara's locker was outside of Ms. Grant's room while Lena's was all the way by Mr. Kent's. The two only crossed paths in between classes once: Kara would be on her way to history while Lena walked to math. They didn't share friends. They didn't share hobbies. They didn't share classes. That was, except one class.

The two seniors both shared Mr. Jone's third period AP Physics class. 

So on one hand, Mr. Jones was right. AP Physics would be the hardest part of senior year for Lena. But it wasn't because of a stupid test. It's because she was sitting across the lab table from her biggest crush and she didn't have the guts to say hi.


	2. Lena can do this. She can totally do this.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam tries to help Lena overcome her awkwardness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the feedback!!! I wanted to play around with Lena being an awkward mess and Sam being her No. 1 bro. Tell me what you think!

She could do this. Lena Kieran Luthor could do this. She led the speech and debate team to a state championship sophomore year so she could definitely do this. Ok, here she goes.

“The weather has been, you know…” Lena said, gesturing wildly at the window.

Kara looked up from her notes and stared at Lena before looking outside to inspect the sunny, 70-degree weather, which is exactly how the weather had been for the past several months and how it was expected to stay for at least a couple more. 

She turned back to Lena and pushed her glasses up, “Uh, yeah.” Kara looked back down at her notes and continued cramming for that day’s quiz. 

Lena heard Sam cover up a laugh by pretending to cough. She glared at her friend, who sat behind her at a lab table with Nia Nal. Sam just smiled back. 

“You’re right Lena, we have been having weather lately,” Sam said.

Lena scowled and looked down at her notes. Monday was a complete failure.

* * *

“So...excited for lunch today? Gotta love that, uh, cafeteria food,” Lena blurted out once Kara arrived at their lab table. Kara gave Lena a quizzical look as she grabbed her notebook out of her backpack. 

“I actually packed my lunch,” Kara said. 

“Good, good. Nice, very nice. Don’t wanna risk eating those soggy French fries, right?” Lena said, letting out a nervous laugh. 

Kara just stared. 

“Don’t you, like, bring in a catered lunch every day from your family’s private chef?” Kara asked.

A blush took over Lena’s pale cheeks as she stuttered, “Oh, you know, yes but...uh, I’ve heard about those soggy fries so…”

Sam’s snort carried across the classroom. She gave Lena a giant thumbs up and mouthed “soggy fries.” Tuesday was a bust. 

* * *

“Today is the day. Today is the day. Today. is. The. Day,” Lena repeated to herself as she and Sam walked toward physics class. 

“I mean, come on,” Sam said. “You’re one of the most eloquent speakers I know. Why can’t you just have a normal conversation?”

“Look, Samantha,” Lena said, emphasizing Sam’s full name and looking her dead in the eyes as she entered the room. “I’ll have you know that I am an amazing speaker just not when—” 

Lena collided with a rather solid object and heard a yelp. She looked over and saw Kara standing with an empty water bottle and a soaked shirt. Kara let out a groan and rushed to the bathroom. 

“Look at it this way,” Sam said, placing a comforting hand on Lena’s shoulder. “At least you touched her.”

And there went Wednesday.

* * *

Lena banged her head against her locker during morning break. 

“This. Isn’t. Working.” 

Jack Spheer, who happened to be walking by at the time, stopped and looked over.

“Uh, Lena? Are you...okay?”

Sam quickly moved in front of Lena. 

“Oh, don’t worry. She’s fine. Just talking about the homecoming dance. Trying to figure out the theme is all. Carry on.”

Sam shooed a confused looking Jack down the hall before rounding on Lena. 

“Lena, this has got to stop. You are too smart and too attractive to turn into an absolute mess around one girl,” Sam said. 

Lena grumbled her response. 

“Fine, one _ pretty _ girl.”

“You’re right. I know you’re right. I just don’t know what to say to her and every time I’m around her my heart starts racing and there’s a ringing in my ears and my hands are, I don’t know, clammy? And suddenly the words I knew, or at least thought I knew, are no longer words and sentences just stop existing...and what?”

Sam smirked at Lena.

“You’re rambling.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

Lena groaned and started banging her head against her locker again. 

“Okay, look, stop. People are staring,” Sam said. “God, if you’re going to be such a baby about it, here’s what you should do. We get our quizzes back from Jones today, right? Just offer to help her study for the next one.”

“Uhh why would she need my help?”

“Honestly, Lena. The fact that you have the top GPA…”

“I’ll have you know—”

“She’ll need your help,” Sam said, interrupting Lena, “because that quiz was brutal and there’s no way anybody but you — which again, flabbergasted by this— did well. So when she fails, just offer to help her study. And there you have it, date.”

“Fail, help, date,” Lena repeated. “I can do that.”

The bell rang and the two started making their way toward physics class.

“Oh, and before I forget,” Sam added, “Grant wanted me to ask you to go to her classroom after school to talk about the dance. She was going off on something about the student body president needing to set up the king and queen nominations and was ranting about us already being behind on it.”

“Cool, cool, cool,” Lena repeated, not really paying much attention. 

She sat down at her seat, picked up her pencil and began twisting it while taking deep calming breaths. 

“Lena,” Sam hissed, “I can hear you lamaze breathing from here. Stop it.”

Lena nodded and began to more quietly suck breath in and out, in and out, in and out. Sam just rolled her eyes. 

Kara entered the classroom just as the bell rang, quickly apologizing to Mr. Jones as she took her seat.

“Well class, I have your first quizzes,” Mr. Jones said as he began to hand them back, reaching Lena and Kara’s table first. To no one’s surprise, Lena scored a 10/10.

“They were not nearly up to par. You all need to put a lot more effort into these. Given how poorly you all performed, I’m making you take another quiz tomorrow. Honestly, you should be spending an hour studying physics _ a day _ on top of your typical physics homework. I expect you all to do better on tomorrow’s quiz. Much better.”

Lena glanced back at Sam who gave her an encouraging nod. She took another deep breath and turned to Kara.

“Hey, uh, sucks about the quiz. If you, uh, want help, you can always come over to my place and I can help you study.” 

Kara blinked at Lena. 

“What are you talking about?” Kara asked. 

“The quiz. I can...I can help you do better next time…” Lena looked down at Kara’s paper and saw a 10/10. “Oh…”

“What, think you were the only one capable of doing well?” Kara asked, huffing as she turned away from Lena and faced forward. 

“Wah? No!”

“Look, I’ll have you know,” Kara began, swiveling back toward Lena, “that just because my family can’t pay for big fancy tutors doesn’t mean I’m not capable of...you know…,” Kara waved her hands in the air, “smart things.”

“No, what! That’s not what I meant, I didn’t...”

“Ladies,” Mr. Jones interrupted. “I’m trying to teach a class here.”

Both Kara and Lena immediately shut up and slumped forward. Lena peeked behind her and made eye contact with Sam, who gave her a sad grimace.

Thursday was officially the worst day of Lena’s life and it was only third period.

* * *

After the last bell of the day, Lena slowly made her way to Ms. Grant’s classroom.

“Lena, good. I have to run to the teacher’s lounge quickly to make some copies. Mind waiting here for a little bit? Thanks.”

Lena smiled and said of course. Once Ms. Grant left the room, though, she dropped onto a chair and groaned. All she had to do was talk to Ms. Grant, meet the fellow National Honors Society officers at Noonan’s to plan their upcoming volunteering event, email the vice president of Future Business Leaders of Midvale High some corrections to the new bylaws, swim some laps to keep her trainer happy and finish her homework. Then she can sleep. Maybe even read a little or binge some Netflix. But most importantly, sleep.

“I just don’t get it, Nia.” 

Lena’s head shot up. It was a voice. It was _ her _ voice and it was getting closer to Ms. Grant’s room. 

“Like, did I do something to her?” 

Lena heard somebody opening a locker right outside the classroom. A bag unzipped and various books were shoved inside. 

“Who does she think she is?” Kara asked. “What, so she’s pretty, smart and rich af, that doesn’t mean she’s the only one that matters around here. ‘I can help you do better next time.’ What, like I’m just some idiot begging at the feet of the great Lena Luthor.”

Lena’s heart dropped as the locker slammed shut. 

“I’m pretty sure she likes you,” Nia said, her voice traveling down the hall. 

Kara’s laugh followed her as she turned the corner, heading outside. 

“Yeah right, there’s no way Lena Luthor likes my bisexual mess.”

Lena had already grabbed her bag and was halfway down the hall, running in the opposite direction as tears streamed down her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> love a good ANGST


	3. A tired Lena is a mad Lena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's worse: A physics quiz designed to fail students or a pissed-off Ms. Grant. It doesn't matter, Lena just wants to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I wasn't quite sure how I wanted this one to look but I liked how it ended up! Let me know what you think.

Lena ran into the physics classroom a second after the final bell. Mr. Jones’ back was turned so she quietly speed-walked to her chair. Her normally straight hair was up in a messy bun and her eyes had dark bags under them.

She had stayed up until 3 a.m., rotating between crying and staring dead-eyed at the ceiling. She slept passed her 5 a.m. alarm, missed her morning workout and was five minutes late to homeroom.

She rummaged through her bag, trying to find the right notebook, when Kara mumbled something. 

“What?” Lena said, her tone biting.

Kara looked surprised and stumbled.

“Oh, uh, I was wondering if you had a pencil I could borrow for today’s quiz.” 

Lena stared at her for a second, the words taking too long to process through her tired brain. She looked in her bag, spotted an extra pencil and shoved it in Kara’s face.

“Uh, thanks,” Kara said.

She turned toward Nia and gave her a confused look. The other girl shrugged. 

Mr. Jones walked through the classroom handing out the quizzes.

“You’re late today, Lena,” he said. “Don’t make it a habit. Alright class, you may begin.”

Lena let out a sigh and turned over her paper. The quiz was … brutal. It’s like Mr. Jones wanted to punish the class for its dismal performance yesterday. God, she wished she’d gone to bed earlier.

It took Lena twice as long as normal to finish. She knew she should double-check her answers but honestly, she was just too tired. Lena walked up to Mr. Jones’ desk and handed in her quiz. 

“Are you alright, Lena?” Mr. Jones asked. “You seem out of it.” 

“Fine,” Lena said before quickly walking back to her seat. 

Lena was too tired to concentrate during class. It didn’t help that she was nervous to be sitting next to Kara. It  _ especially _ didn’t help that the blonde kept discreetly looking at Lena to make sure she was OK. Lena ignored her, opting instead to watch the clock as it moved closer and closer to the end of class. 

“I know you all are excited for the weekend but please give me your undivided attention one more time,” Mr. Jones said. “As I’ve already mentioned, you all will be teaming up to work on a semester project.” 

Lena looked back and made eye contact with Sam who gave her a smile and nod. 

“Usually, I’d have you pick your partners. But after last year’s … incident , ” Mr. Jones paused. The class remembered when Winn and Brainy’s project forced the principal to cancel school for a week so firefighters could properly assess the property damage. “I have been instructed to start assigning partners,” Mr. Jones said. “I’ve decided the easiest way to do this is for everyone to pair up with their desk mates. So turn to the person next to you and say hi because you two will be spending a lot of time together.”

Lena’s stomach dropped. No. No. No. No. No. Lena snuck a glance back at Sam, her eyes screaming a silent “help me.” She didn’t see Kara do the same to Nia. 

Mr. Jones explained the project requirements and deadlines before handing out an introductory packet that each group was expected to finish by early next week. Lena wasn’t paying attention. All she could think about was getting out of this classroom and away from Kara. The bell rang and Lena jumped up, bolting out of the classroom. Kara yelled for her to wait and rushed after her. Nia and Sam looked at each other. 

“Well,” Sam said. “This will be entertaining.”

“Should we start putting bets in now?” Nia asked. 

Sam grinned. 

* * *

Lena only made it a few steps when she ran into Siobhan Smythe. 

“Lena, there you are,” Siobhan said. Lena groaned. She had totally spaced on meeting up with the other National Honor Society officers.

“Where were you yesterday? I, like, texted you 10 times,” Siobhan said. 

“Uhhhh...”

“Lena!” Kara showed up at their side. Siobhan looked Kara up and down, scrutinizing every detail. Kara straightened her shirt, shifting her weight from foot to foot. Siobhan rolled her eyes. 

“Anyways, since you missed the meeting yesterday, we ended up planning half the event without you.” 

“I’m so sorry, Siobhan,” Lena said. “Send me the meeting notes. I’ll look over them this weekend and plan the rest. I’ll have the updated notes ready for review by Monday morning.” 

“Fine, that’ll work,” Siobhan said. She threw Kara another judging glance. “Anyways, see you tomorrow at Sam’s.” 

She turned and walked away. Lena took a big breath. She spun around to face Kara.

“Lena!” Maxwell Lord ran up to her. “I didn’t get your revisions last night? Have you looked at the new bylaws yet? We need to get them approved by next week so I don’t know what — ”

“I’ll look this weekend,” Lena interrupted. “I’ll send you the revisions.”

“Perfect, thanks. See you at Sam’s,” Maxwell said before running to catch his next class. 

“Wow,” Kara said. “Is your life always like this?” 

“What do you want, Kara,” Lena asked curtly. 

Taken aback by her tone, Kara fidgeted with her glasses. 

“I was going to ask if you wanted to get a start on the physics packet this weekend. But now it seems like you’re already pretty booked. The only thing is, I promised to go on a run with my cousin Clark Monday night and the packet is due Tuesday. I’d re-schedule with Clark but his dad has been on him about making regionals so I don’t want to stress him out but like if — ”

“We’ll do it Saturday afternoon. Come to my house at 2 p.m. Give me your phone so I can give you my number,” Lena said, looking at her watch to check the time. 

Kara handed over her phone. Lena was halfway through entering her number when a screech carried through the hall. Both girls froze. 

“LENA LUTHOR,” Ms. Grant yelled. 

“Shit,” Lena said. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.” 

“Uh, everything OK?” Kara asked. 

Lena rushed to finish adding her number and threw the phone back at Kara before twirling around to meet a livid Ms. Grant face-to-face. 

“Hello, Ms. Grant.” 

“Ms. Luthor, do you think that my time is not valuable?” Ms. Grant asked. 

“No, Ms. Grant.” 

“Do you think my day is just filled with bopping from one frivilous task to another?” 

“No, Ms. Grant.” 

“Do you think my world revolves around the foolish whims of a 17-year-old high school student?” 

“No, Ms. Grant.” 

“Then explain to me, Lena Luthor, why when I returned to my classroom yesterday, you were nowhere to be found. Explain to me how someone could possibly disappear  —  poof  —  into thin air despite being there only seconds ago. Did I not give you clear enough instructions to stay put until I returned? No, don’t answer that, I already know I did. So Lena, where did you run off to in the five minutes that it took me to make copies after school?”

Kara, along with the rest of the hall, was frozen, watching Ms. Grant’s tear into Lena. The blonde slowly began to process the teacher’s words and went pale, her eyes snapping to Lena. 

“I, um, I, um,” Lena stuttered, her face growing red.

“You know what. I don’t even want to hear whatever ridiculous excuse you’ve concocted. My office. Lunch. We will plan the upcoming homecoming dance. Even if it’s seems far too below the responsibilities of our student body president.” 

Ms. Grant gave Lena a scathing look before turning on her heels and walking back down the hall, shooing students out of her way as she went. 

“Lena,” Kara said softly. 

“Tomorrow. 2 p.m.,” Lena said through gritted teeth. “Come to my house.” 

Lena stalked off down the hall as Kara stood rooted in her place, staring after her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, they will study together. Yes, there will be a party scene. Yes, I'm very excited.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so let me know what you think!


End file.
